>> Friday, February 19, 2016

By Aileen
P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The segregation for housing
purposes of built-up areas at the Buyog watershed here from the coverage of
Proclamation No. 93 which declares Buyog as a forest reservation will be
pursued but the city government will ensure the protection of the remaining
unoccupied portion of the reservation.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan bared
this as he directed last Feb. 1 city legal officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes to
draft a memorandum of agreement stipulating conditions to ensure the
preservation of the remaining unoccupied portion of the watershed should the
planned segregation materialize.

The mayor’s move was
based on the recommendation of Baguio Water District (BWD) general manager
Salvador Royeca for the forging of memorandum of agreement that spells out
conditions for the protection of the remaining portions of the watershed before
the BWD will issue a favorable endorsement to the segregation.

“The BWD is prepared
to a favorable endorsement however, we have proposed some conditions thereto
which we believe are for the best interest of the City of Baguio, BWD and the
residents thereat,” Royeca wrote the mayor.

The BWD’s endorsement
of the proposed segregation was sought by Housing and Urban Development
Coordinating Council (HUDCC) NorthLuzon regional coordinator
Micheline Inay

In a letter to Inay
dated January 25, Royeca cited four conditions: that no further intrusion of
buildings should be allowed; that the existing breaches of openings in the
existing fence should be closed to prevent entry of unauthorized persons; that
residents should be required to install sealed septic tanks; and that the
residents should be informed that they have a personal stake in preservation
the watershed as it is their primary water source.

“These conditions are
sought to be imposed as our inspection has revealed that without these
conditions being put in place, we will risk the irreversible contamination of
the water sources,” Royeca noted.

He suggested that a
MOA “be executed to serve as the basis for our issuance of the requested
endorsement.”

City council committee
on lands chair Councilor Leandro Yangot Jr. asked the mayor to task the city
legal office for the immediate drafting of the MOA to facilitate the issuance
of the BWD endorsement.

A large portion of the
20-hectare Buyog is inhabited by residents from Pinget, Quirino Hill and other
barangays straddled by the forest reserve.

Pinget barangay
officials sought the segregation of 113,193 square meter area occupied by
residents for housing as early as 2009. The residents claimed they have
occupied the area since the late 70s or long before the issuance of
Proclamation No. 93 issued in 1992.

In 2014, Lower Quirino
Hill residents sought the intercession of Yangot also for the exclusion of the
inhabited portion from the reservation.

Efforts to abate
squatting at the reservation peaked in the 1990s when illegal structures were
demolished by authorities but the intruders kept on returning prompting the
Baguio Regreening Movement under former Councilor ErdolfoBalajadia and the
Baguio-Benguet Medical Society to spearhead the fencing of the unoccupied
portion to ward off further intrusion and expansion of the shanties.

According to the BRM,
of the 20-hectare reservation area, only about 10 hectares remained
unoccupied.

Buyog is one of the
four major sources of water in the city aside from Sto. Tomas, Busol and Camp
8.

It supplies water to
the Buyog area including Camdas, Dizon, Pinget and Quirino Hill barangays.